


Dearly Beloved

by liuet



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 00:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14508396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liuet/pseuds/liuet
Summary: Four years after the Promised Day, Roy and Riza decide they should get married, but can't let the military find out… so they find a priest instead.





	Dearly Beloved

“Dearly beloved,” the ceremony began. “We are gathered together to witness and celebrate…”

There were only three people in the room: the bride, the groom, and the priest. There was no fancy dress, no tuxedo, no indication that this was a momentous occasion at all aside from the words spoken. And there would be no feast afterwards, either. Everything would continue on as it had, unaware of what had taken place that day.

They had always been careful to keep the true nature of their relationship hidden. There were times when they couldn’t stand it. That was partly, one supposed, why they had ended up here in a small chapel just outside of East City.

* * *

While Roy had curbed his penchant for impulsivity over the years, there were times when it couldn’t be helped. His decision to propose to Riza, however casually, however conversationally, was one of those times.

Their work helping with the Ishavalan restoration kept them busy, along with rumors of unrest near the southern borders, but also afforded them more leeway than they had been accustomed to. Primarily stationed in East City, they were out from under the immediate watch of those in Central, despite the agents the military had sent. Added to the privilege that came with being the commander of the Eastern Army, it meant that he and Riza spent more time together unsupervised than they ever had. Working late hours at her superior’s residence wasn’t new for her, either—a fact that was well-known after her months working for Bradley.

Roy had set up his personal quarters at a large townhouse not far from Eastern Command. It was opulently decorated compared to the small place he had rented in Central, but it was only for the sake of keeping up appearances. He only used two of the rooms with any regularity. Riza’s official residence was only a few blocks away, but most nights she didn't even make it home.

“Do you ever wonder,” he asked her one night, “what would have happened if you hadn’t joined the military?”

Riza capped her pen and set it on the pile of papers laid out in front of her on the desk. After a moment, she replied, “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because there wasn’t anywhere else for me to go.” She looked over to where he sat on the couch. “Why?”

“Ah, well, I guess you could say it was just on my mind.”

“What would have happened to you if you hadn’t joined the military?”

“I—“ He cleared his throat. Damn it, he didn’t normally get flustered around her. “I would have continued studying alchemy. Probably would have found some other way to serve the country. Would have… married you. Probably.”

“Probably?”

“I have to account for what you want.”

She looked back at her hands for a few moments. “If you weren’t… if neither of us were in the military… then yes, probably.”

Silence fell between them. A missed future, not quite a parallel line to their current path, dissipating.

“Do you regret it? Choosing this path?” Roy finally asked.

“No,” Riza answered firmly. She looked back at him again. “Do you?”

The corner of Roy’s mouth quirked up momentarily. He resented it at times, but never regretted it. “No.”

“Then what’s bothering you so much?”

Of course she could tell that there was something more than idle conversation. She knew him better than anyone. He could hardly stand the thought of her not being by his side. Which was exactly why…

“I still want that future.” His gaze met hers. “I want… when we’re gone and buried, I want some future generation to be able to look at our graves and know that we belonged together.”

She stared at him and for one long moment he thought that she had somehow misconstrued his meaning. But her surprised expression soon melted into one of the soft smiles that he so rarely saw.

Without a word, she came to sit next to him, and gathered his hands in hers. He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers.

“You really want to do this?” Riza finally asked.

“Don’t you?”

“You know the answer.”

He chuckled and sat back again. “Well, then… how shall we go about this?”

* * *

The details didn’t take long to decide on. It had to be quiet; the military couldn’t know, and any marriage registered through the courts would be found by the military. So, while neither of them were particularly religious, but having witnessed firsthand something approaching the power of the divine, they decided to find a priest.

They couldn’t tell anyone, not right away, in any case. Roy would tell Madam Christmas eventually; he had no doubt that she would keep the secret. They couldn’t tell Grumman, at least not until after he retired from being Führer. Roy hoped that the old man would forgive them for keeping it from him, but both he and Riza agreed that it would complicate matters needlessly were they to tell her grandfather. Only the two of them were required for the ceremony.

In the end, they looked at a map of the city and found the smallest chapel they could.

The chapel was even smaller than Roy’s office. It was sparsely decorated, but not worn-down like so many small parishes across the Amestrian countryside. The last time Roy had been in a chapel like it had been for Hughes’s wedding nearly ten years ago. That one had been a bit larger, though, if only by virtue of being so close to Central. The wedding itself had been small, comprising of barely more than twenty people. Most of them were relatives of Gracia’s, and a few of Hughes’s cousins; his father was long dead, and his mother towards the end of their time at the academy.

At the time, Roy had privately questioned Hughes’s choice to get married so soon after they had returned from the war. He’d never said anything to his friend, but Hughes had always been astute. Some time afterwards, before Roy had returned to East City, the two of them had talked. Rather, Hughes had talked—at length—about a number of subjects that had apparently been on his mind, and Roy had listened.

 

_“I know you think I’m being hasty,” Hughes had said, suddenly changing the topic from an anecdote about the escapades of one of his cousins. “I’ve seen that look you get when I talk about marriage—yeah, that’s the one. You know, Roy, for someone who’s trying to get up to his eyeballs in political intrigue, you’d think you’d have a better poker face.” Hughes chuckled. “I knew this was what I wanted, though. All that time in Ishval, knowing Gracia was waiting for me at the end of it was all that kept me going some days. I came back, and I still loved her, she still loved me… that proved it. If she could love me after what that war made me become, I knew she’d love me no matter what.”_

_“She’s a good woman, Maes,” Roy agreed. “I know you’ll be happy together.”_

_“Oh, you don’t even know the half of it!” Hughes exclaimed, immediately launching down a tangent on his plans for the future. They included children, a nice townhouse in the city, and what Roy suspected was an ambitious lie about a comfortable desk job._

_Roy quietly envied Hughes in his happiness. Marriage, a family, an idealistic future… Roy could never be content in a life like that; his ambitions had always been too much in the forefront of his mind. When he’d been younger, he’d thought that if he ever married, it would be to further some means of achieving his goals._

_For all that Roy’d had reservations about Hughes’s marriage, he’d understood it, as well. Ishval had changed them all; not even Roy knew all the horrors Hughes had seen there. He knew how close he had come to dying more than once, how thin the line between survival and death had been. Everyone who had survived the worst parts of the war had come to terms with their own frail mortality. So when Hughes had announced his engagement so soon after returning home, Roy understood. Those things—marriage, love, family—were important to Hughes in a way that they weren’t for Roy, and he wanted a chance at it before it wasn’t an option anymore._

_“—which means that the next thing we need to do is find you a wife.” There was a decidedly wicked note in Hughes’s tone._

_“Hughes,” Roy growled. “The last thing I need is you meddling in my love life.”_

_Hughes shrugged. “Someone’s gotta keep you human.”_

_“Go worry about your own family for a while.”_

_“I am.”_

 

God, how he wished Hughes could have seen this. How many times had he wished for his advice? His encouragement?

Riza’s fingers tightened briefly around his own, and he recalled himself to the moment.

“Do the two of you have vows prepared?” the priest asked.

Roy looked at Riza, and raised his eyebrows in a silent question. A slight nod was the answer.

“Yes.”

“Then now would be the time to give them,” said the priest, gesturing for the two of them to face each other.

Roy caught Riza’s other hand, as well, and met her gaze. “Riza Hawkeye, as I take you for my wife, I promise to be there to guard your back, as you have so faithfully guarded mine. I promise to stay true to this path, to you, and everything we’ve worked to build. And I promise that as long as I have you, I will never give up.”

“Roy Mustang, as I take you for my husband, I promise to continue to guard your back. I will not turn away from hardship, nor run from the past. You have my loyalty, my life, and my heart, and you know that there is no greater gift I can give. I will stay by your side, no matter where our path leads us.”

There was a moment of silence before the priest coughed. Roy had forgotten he was there for a second, he had been so focused on Riza that the rest of the world had faded away to nothing.

“Unconventional, but acceptable, I suppose,” the priest mumbled as they turned to face him again. In his usual cadence, the priest continued, “Now, then… as you have promised these things to one another, you are bound by them, and to each other. By the power of your love and commitment to each other, and by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

“You may now ki—“

Roy moved before the words were completely out of the priest’s mouth, and found that Riza had, as well. It was, all things considered, a chaste kiss. Plenty of time for less chaste ones later, he thought, and there was a priest watching.

When they finally drew apart again, the priest concluded the ceremony, saying, “May you find happiness together for all the rest of your days.”

* * *

After they signed the chapel’s marriage registry—which they confirmed would go no further than that building—they surreptitiously made their way back to Roy’s townhouse. They had barely gotten in the door and removed their coats before Roy had Riza in a tight embrace. Her arms wrapped around him, holding him just as tightly.

As always, the feeling of relief at her presence, her solidity, hit him. Ever since he had nearly lost her on the Promised Day, there had been some part of him worried that it was all an elaborate illusion. When they were alone, he went out of his way to reassure himself that she was still there; a hand on her shoulder, a pat on the back, and in the times when they were sure no one else was watching, a caress across her hand, a brush against her cheek, a kiss.

Impulsivity threatened again, and for a moment, he wanted to tell the world that Riza Hawkeye was his wife. Instead, he kissed her again. She leaned into the kiss, into him, and for once in his life, Roy was entirely content. When they finally pulled back enough to look at one another, Roy just wanted to kiss her again.

“Riza.”

“Yes?”

“If I ever get as bad as Hughes, please shoot me.”

She buried her face in his shoulder and shook with silent laughter. As it subsided, she said, “I doubt I’ll have to worry about that.”

He nuzzled his cheek against her hair.

“Roy?”

“Yes?”

“Why now? You know I would have stayed with you no matter what, regardless.”

He knew. He had known ever since she had walked into his office after the war and he had entrusted her with his life. And for a long time, knowing that had been enough. But Hughes’s death had been weighing heavily on his mind again, and just knowing hadn’t been enough. Ahead of them was uncertainty, possibly danger, and Roy found himself at the same precipice Hughes must have found himself all those years ago. He’d wanted the chance before it was gone forever.

“I know,” he finally replied, his voice muffled slightly as he spoke into her hair, “But I realized I don’t just want you to stay with me. Whatever the world has in store for us, I want us to face it _together_ , no ranks, no titles, no pretense to stand in the way. Just you and me.”

He felt her smile. “I like the sound of that.”


End file.
